MTV’s Harmonix games studio and The Beatles’ Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Corps label have confirmed they are to develop “a music-making” video game allowing gamers to play some of the band’s songs from its entire UK back catalog. The title has no scheduled release date but will be ready by “holiday of next year”, the pair told reporters on a conference call – but there’s still no prospect of digital downloads coming to retail…
The new game will not be an expansion pack for Harmonix’s Rock Band but “a new full-blown custom game title production built from the ground up”, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos told reporters. Everyone on the call refused to give any details whatsoever about likely gameplay features because, Apple Corps CEO said, “The game is in development, which is why we don’t want to talk about how it’s going to turn out a year from now.” But it’s likely to come with musical game instruments and other features new from those already in Rock Band…
Rigopulos: “There will be interactive performance of The Beatles’ music as well as a number of new dimensions to how to experience this music and the artistry of The Beatles that you haven’t seen form us before. We have an unique opportunity for us to forge in to a new creative (direction) in the music game genre and do things which have never been done. We want to take players on a sort of experiential journey through the band’s imagery and ideas and vision as they evolved over the course of their time together … a visual exploration of The Beatles’ imagery is a big part of the creative direction of this project.” MTV